Posts Tagged: great-horned owl
Bugs Rule But Other Critters Do, Too, on UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day
Bugs rule, but other critters do, too, on UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day! You won't want to miss...
A tarantula at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A lion specimen at the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, located in Room 1394 of the Academic Surge Building. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A great-horned owl at the California Raptor Center, located at 1340 Equine Lane, Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A new vertebrate control specialist team arrived at Kearney to replace Roger Baldwin.
This year, Kearney had the pleasure of watching four great horned owls mature. We considered this to be a nice addition to the Kearney family. Themis Michailides indicated that owls in ancient Greece represented the bird of wisdom! In fact, when he attended high school in Greece, it was mandatory that all the students wear a hat with an owl-embroidered on the front of the hat.
Kearney staff noticed that a great horned owl was nesting in one of the trees in our north gravel parking lot. When the tree did not have very many leaves, the female parent remained vigilant in the nest with the nestlings. After the young owls became fledglings, the female parent would fly to a nearby tree to watch them. At first, we thought that there were two fledglings, and in the end, we discovered that there were four. All of them became branchers, moving out to the branches at about 6 weeks old. They started to fly about a week later and survived to be independent. Luckily, when one branchling fell out of the nest on a Friday, Gwen Conville, Tayoko Handa and Matthew Fidelibus came by to look at the owls before going home. They captured the fallen young owl and took it to a Critter Creek animal rescue volunteer, who indicated that the bird would probably be flying in a week. The three juveniles that did not fall can still be seen in different areas of Kearney. Please enjoy the following pictures that were taken by many different Kearney personnel, including but not limited to Dan Felts, Matthew Fidelibus, Larry Schwankl, and Laura Van der Staay.
A great horned owl nesting in one of Kearney's parking lot trees.
Female great horned owl at Kearney with one of her 4 nestlings.
Mother great horned owl with fledglings in a nest at Kearney.
Young great horned owl fledglings at Kearney.
Three great horned owls at Kearney on a branch about 1 week before becoming independent.
Branchling great horned owl looking at what is beyond its nest at Kearney.
Young great horned owls at Kearney getting ready to fly.
Juvenile and independent great horned owl remaining at Kearney.
One great horned owl brancher at Kearney fell.
Great horned owl at Kearney trying to resist being rescued.
The great horned owl at Kearney that fell.
Great horned owl at Kearney resisting a rescue attempt.
Great horned owl that fell at Kearney is secure and ready for transport to Critter Creek.
HOO-hoo-hoo Would Have Thought? Controlling Rodents With Owls...Cats Too?
Advice for the Home Gardener from the Contra Costa Master Gardeners Help Desk
Client's Question and Concerns:
I'm trying to control gophers and squirrels on my property. I am worried that owls might harm my cat. Could you please let me know if this is cause for worry? If not, could you please send me some information.
CCMG Help Desk Response:
Rodents, especially voles, rats and gophers, are barn owls' favorite foods. They do a pretty good job of reducing the population of these unwanted pests. Barn owls are cavity nesters and will nest in artificial boxes. They are fairly tolerant of human activity and will nest quite close to houses, making them ideal predators for the rodents that plague our gardens. Barn owls are mostly white or light tan; their call is a loud screech.
Great horned owls do not use nest boxes, preferring large open nests. They, too, eat rodents, but will also take larger animals such as skunks. Great horned owls are larger than barn owls and are brown; their call is the stereotypicalHoo-h'HOO-hoo-hoo. Here is a link to the Hungry Owl Project in Marin County where you will find lots of information about owls: http://www.hungryowl.org/
To protect your cat, it's really best to keep it indoors, especially at night. There are lots of dangers outside besides great horned owls. Here's a link to American Bird Conservancy's Cats Indoors program that will give you lots of information about how to make an outdoor cat a happy indoor cat: http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/cats/index.html
Gophers are a common problem for many of us in Contra Costa. These burrowing animals eat plants, sometimes causing a great deal of damage. Here's a link to information about controlling gophers: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7433.html
Not knowing if your squirrel problems are from tree or ground squirrels, I'm including links for information about controlling both species:
tree squirrels: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74122.html and
ground squirrels: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7438.html
Please don't hesitate to let us know if you have further questions.
Contra Costa Master Gardeners Help Desk
Note: The Contra Costa Master Gardener Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, and on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/